The CIA was on the phone
by Nessaiya
Summary: Someone from her past comes back, haunting Allison Cameron… and House learns that he doesn’t want to open bodybags to identify one of his ducklings.
1. Chapter 1

**Story:**Someone from her past comes back, haunting Allison Cameron… and House learns that he doesn't want to open bodybags to identify one of his ducklings.

**Author's note:**Finally a Hameron story.

**Disclaimer:**Neither House nor Mr. & Mrs. Smith belong to me.

**Date:**28.10.2007 – .2008

**The CIA was on the phone**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Sister Darkness**

Allison Cameron lifted her head from her notebook, silently moaning when she saw Lisa Cuddy walk by the glass walls, briefly looking inside but then continuing to the office, where House was getting ready to leave. She could not see him inside there but it didn't need a genius to know that he had seen her, too. Two seconds later he was flattering her to keep her from giving him a file… words she didn't think he was capable of. The dean of medicine definitely would be smiling even though he didn't mean it, and he also knew that his compliments wouldn't help him to get off the case.

Actually she knew that they wouldn't get off the case, spending the night with tests while he was at home, sleeping tight. And if she thought about it, today she'd rather be in here, doing every test that was necessary to save whoever Cuddy was dragging along right now.

By now he had opened the door and thrown a file on the table in the conference room.

"Round up the usual suspects. Amyloidosis, sarcoidosis, hemochromatosis... Heck, go wild, do all the osis's."

She carefully looked at her male colleagues, seeing them not too pleased with the thought to stay late.

House just turned to his boss.

"All taken care of, sleep tight."

With that he left the room, leaving them without another word.

Sleep tight.

Hah.

She didn't sleep tight for the two and a half years she had been working for him now. She sure as hell didn't sleep tight after Chase had expressed his undying love for her and she had to kick him out of her bedroom.

She had seen what love could do to you and tried to get her stress relief somehow else.

Trust a man to fuck it up.

Didn't they always?

* * *

Watching the girl's OR from the observation desk didn't give them any clues.

"This thing is already around her heart, if it gets into the muscle she's dead", Foreman stated and she had to fight the urge to scoff. Sometimes she was annoyed with the need of everybody around here to state the obvious. She wouldn't be in surgery if something wasn't wrong.

All the wrongs they ever got meant that somebody could be dying.

"Best bet's Coxsackie virus, Parvovirus B19, CMV...", Chase said and she couldn't fight down the need to make her answer sharper than intended.

"Bacterial infection is more likely to turn constrictive. It could be TB."

Of course he had to snap back. That was what you did when you ended a relationship… a relationship that never was one.

Because she knew better.

"Right. Forgot about the part where she did time in Russian goulo. Her hematocrit's elevated", he said, making her grit her teeth.

"Few extra blood cells means nothing. She's probably just dehydrated."

"Yes and I could assume 3 or 4 things to fit my theory too."

"She's sick, she obviously hasn't been drinking enough..."

Maybe it was good that Foreman had enough of it by now. Or she would have scratched Chase's eyes out.

"Enough! I take it you're not sleeping together anymore. We do what House said. We test for everything."

Well. It definitely didn't take a genius to find that out.

What confused her was Chase handing her the file with a smug grin.

"Good. Then I can leave."

While he was starting to leave Cameron frowned at him.

"Since when does we not include you?"

"Well. House is going to call us idiots anyway. Might as well be a well-rested idiot."

With that the Aussie left the room and she couldn't help but think that he was right. Nevertheless it was better here than at home, in her bed where…

Maybe she should burn the thing.

* * *

She was tired. Foreman was tired.

And of course Chase had to be right.

"You guys are idiots", House stated while never realizing that she was falling asleep on her feet right now, but still needed to defend herself.

"Why? Because we stayed up all night doing exactly what you told us to do?"

He looked at her, those blue eyes making her forget his last sentence so she needed a moment to make sense of his next one.

"No. Because you stayed up all night doing exactly what I told you to do and have nothing to show for it."

"We eliminated dozens of wrong answers", Foreman this time piped up, making House face him instead of her.

"I asked you what 2 + 2 equals and a day later you tell me not 25", the diagnostician growled at his colored duckling, and of course Chase had to take this moment to make his appearance, looking well rested, handing his boss a report.

"The pathology report just got filed. Found granulomas in Lucy's pericardium. Could be a case of fungal infection."

He got a "Nice work", as answer, making her growl.

"He went home!"

"Work smart, not hard", was House's answer to that, with Chase grinning at her presumptuosly, making her really wanna punch him.

"Find out which fungus, biopsy a lymph node. Take employee of the month with you", the diagnostician continued and waited for a protest that never came. She just turned to the door of his office, suddenly freezing.

He had expected his female duckling to rather want Foreman go with her, but what he got was a blank stare that was directed to somewhere out there. When he stood up to get a better look he just saw a woman in a business costume walk down the hallway.

Looking at Cameron again he could see that she had turned white, with her mouth slightly agape.

"Foreman, Chase, go, test the kid."

When the two male doctors hestitated he barked a "Now!" to stress his order and watched them rush out while Cameron still was frozen to her spot on the floor. The woman had stopped outside, looking at the doctor who openly was staring at her.

"Cameron?"

She jerked when she heard his voice.

"You look like you've seen a ghost", he stated, not knowing how close to the truth he was with that statement. When she still didn't move he sighed.

"You're not going to faint in here, are you?"

She was not. She was leaving his office, approaching the woman who smiled at her.

* * *

"It was really hard to find you. I taught you well", the woman stated when Cameron had finally reached her, painfully aware of the ocean blue eyes of her boss in her back, curiously watching them out there.

"I thought you were dead. Or had left the country to never be seen again", was her silent answer. Three years of nothing. Three years in which she had tried to forget everything.

"What are you doing here, Jane?"

Jane Smith let the smile in her face fade to a stern expression.

"I need your help, Jade."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Legends never die**

House watched his female duckling in the hallway talking to the other woman. He could see that Cameron clenched within seconds, making it evident that she was not pleased by the visit.

Yet, since he did never care… he didn't care. After all he had a puzzle to solve, already knowing that the results of the tests and the diagnosis they would find wouldn't be the final one.

It never was.

* * *

Cameron just tugged at the sleve of Jane's blazer, dragging her along into a visitor's area, where they could sit down.

Where he didn't watch.

"I broke with this life."

"I know. That's why I came to you. I trust you…"

"No… what I am trying to tell you is that I really closed this chapter of my life. I can't help you, Jane, whatever it is, except for medical things."

The other woman sighed.

"They have John", she then said, tears glistening in her eyes, making Cameron avert her eyes.

"I'm sorry… but you have to understand that… I can't. I just can't do that anymore."

Jane nodded.

"I… can I stay with you at least until tomorrow?"

Cameron watched her through her green eyes, her instinct screaming at her that this was a bad idea.

"They been following you?" she asked nevertheless.

"Not so far… I just need a place to hide for a while."

"I… You can stay at my flat tonight. But I can't help you in any other way. I built this life and I won't let anything take it away from me. Not even you", the young immunologist declared, seeing her former boss nod sadly.

"It's already more than I could expect."

* * *

She had given her her keys and was still thinking about it while the boys where discussing the latest results. What had surprised her the most was that she was refusing her request for help. That she was defending this life so much, although she was having trouble with the guy she had slept with, although her boss got more and more annoying over time, making her feel the urge to use her rather special hidden skills on him every now and then.

House was watching her, while Chase was pouting and snapping like a four year old whose favourite toy had been taken away.

Thinking of it… yeah, well, since Cameron seemed to have cancelled their agreement on casual sex he was the four year old, pouting because his favourite toy refused to play with him.

Actually she didn't do anything right now than stare off into nothing since this woman had appeared this morning.

So after sending the boys away to another round of tests he looked at her, still sitting at the conference table.

"Who was that hot chick this morning?" he asked, making her jerk in her chair and him think about the fact that he made her jerk for the second time this day.

"Jesus, are you jumpy today… did you trade Chase for her? 'Cause I definitely would", he stated, seeing an annoyed expression appear on her face.

"She is married."

"Yeah, so maybe her husband wants Chase, so I can have her. Or you want her and be so nice to let me watch…"

He looked at her confused when she snorted amused at this remark, getting up from her chair.

"She's more than you could handle."

Leaving him alone with this statement he still had a frown on his face when Cuddy came by to shoo him away to do his clinic hours.

* * *

She was exhausted.

Maybe she was getting too old for allnighters. Or it was reminding her too much of her…

Hearing a noise inside her apartment she immediately tensed her muscles before realizing that she was having a guest. Carefully opening the entrance door she peeked inside to actually see Jane in there, setting a table.

Opening her door fully she shook her head at the woman who was standing there in an apron, one of her long knives in her right hand.

"You cooked for me?" Cameron asked with a smile on her face, seeing a sad smile appear on the other woman's face.

"I never cook. I-Temp does", Jane replied, motioning for her to sit down, what she gladly did after leaving her purse and her jacket in a heap next to the door. She knew it would drive Jane crazy… she'd always been neat and perfect. But this was her flat, her life… her heap next to the door. The other woman really glanced at it but then decided to sit down, too, grabbing a bowl with mashed potatoes.

"So… you are working as a doctor again", she stated after a while, just picking at her food while Cameron actually was enjoying it. She wasn't really into cooking either, but for her most of the time McDonald's was doing the work, making everybody who knew about this fact wonder how she kept her slim waist.

"I never stopped working as a doctor, you know what happened at our missions", she replied.

Jane sighed.

"You faked your death."

"No other way to get out of there. Father's rather possessive of his children."

"You have another life… are you seeing anybody?"

Cameron frowned at the other woman.

"Jane, stop making smalltalk. That's not you and you know it."

Jane sighed again.

"You are the only one I can turn to, Jade… How are you calling yourself?"

"Cameron… Allison Cameron", Cameron answered, knowing that Jane was just asking to buy herself some time. If she had found her she also knew how she was calling herself.

"That is a beautiful name…"

"Again, smalltalk."

Jane watched her closely.

"You have changed. You're more direct."

"Jane!"

Of course she was. You didn't survive two and a half years under Gregory House without learning how to make yourself noticed.

"I need your help, Jade!"

"And I said no. I'm sorry that they have John, but I'm no longer that person."

Jane actually seemed surprised that she was refusing, but continued eating after a moment.

"I'll be out of your hair tomorrow", she then said.

* * *

She frowned at the knock on her door. Jane had already disappeared in her bedroom, after she had refused to let her stay on the couch. Actually she was grateful that she didn't have to sleep in her bed, reminding her of Chase, this night.

It knocked a second time, more fiercely this time and she sighed.

"I told you, Chase, that I won't change my mind", she called out before opening the door with the chain still hooked.

Chase was not out there.

Unless he thought that dressing up in black and pointing an automatic weapon at her would win her back. Reacting purely on instinct she crushed the door against the arm that was reaching inside, making the man in front of her door scream with pain while she backed away from the door soon enough to not be shred by the salve of bullets that ripped wholes in her front door and everything that was behind it.

Another shot finally killed the chain, granting the intruders access to her apartment… though the first one would never remember what it looked like, being killed by the first bullet of her gun, carefully placed under her couch with her hoping she would never need it… as she never wanted to need the one in the kitchen, or the bathroom. Or the bedroom.

Jane killed the second man, who pulled the trigger while falling to the ground, making her jump out of the way while he remodelled her couch to toothpicks.

Firing at the entrance, where at least two other men were waiting, and taking cover, Cameron rushed over to the other woman.

"So they didn't follow you, huh?!" she growled, before retreiving another magazine from under a table, while rushing her back into the bedroom.

Taking a peek through the window she couldn't see anything under the light of the streetlamp out there, deciding that they – whoever they were – had sent amateurs to get them.

Amateurs that were shooting her bedroomdoor to splinters before being killed by perfectly aimed shots.

Amateurs that were shredding her bed while going down.

Opening the window both women fled into the night while in the apartment silence dominated the noise from only seconds before.

And if there had been any other inhabitants in the apartment building Cameron lived in they would have called the police.

If there had been any.

* * *

"How did they find you?!" Cameron grumped while nursing some scratches and watching Jane do the same. The former killer shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know… If they want to find you, then they do it… And maybe they were looking for you, assuming I would turn to you, seeking your help… after all, I found you, so they can, too."

"They haven't found me for three years! What has changed?!"

Jane sighed.

"Mother and Father are fighting each other again."

"So… Mother's after you."

Seeing Jane nod, Cameron sighed.

"And Father has John."

Looking up into the other woman's eyes the doctor sighed again.

"We're dead."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: A scream replaced my voice**

His cellphone rang for the third time now, making him throw a mean look at the thing. He was only fifteen minutes away from the hospital, they would survive without him.

Actually growling out loud when it didn't stop ringing he pulled his car over to the side, hoping the cellphone would crack when he fiercely pushed the answer-button.

"WHAT?!" House yelled into the phone, totally aware that he was causing the person on the other end pain.

It was the wombat, so he didn't care.

"Lucy had a stroke."

"Who? And why should I care?"

"Lucy, our patient. It was caused by clot in her middle cerebral artery, started her on TPA. Should dissolve the clot and hopefully prevent brain damage, but we wont know for sure until she regains consciousness."

"Or she has another stroke. Arthritis, heart disease, why can't this kid act her age?" House growled, still not sure why they couldn't wait for him to be actually in the hospital to tell him these news.

"JRA doesn't affect the blood, means the clots a symptom of something else", Foreman in the meantime pointed out, telling him that he was on speaker and again he rolled his eyes.

When he didn't hear anything for a while he frowned.

"Shouldn't Cameron be pointing out that it's a symptom of polycythemia, she's fully hydrated and her blood's still thicker than pancake batter? Just so I can tell her she's wrong?"

"Actually… she's not here yet. We tried her phone, her cellphone, she isn't reacting to her beeper."

At that House looked at his watch. It was 09:45 a.m. … Nothing to worry about when he wasn't in. Cameron on the other hand…

When he looked outside his car he sighed.

His ducklings knew him too well.

He just had to turn right instead of left and would be at her apartment within minutes.

"We wondered if you maybe could…", Foreman started in his big brother voice, making him sigh again.

"If she overslept you are taking the blame when I pin a picture of her in her sleeping outfit on the blackboard", he said before ending the call and starting his car.

Actually that could be fun.

Proving little Miss Perfect that she wasn't so perfect.

The talkmaster in the radio talking about an accident on Elm made him speed up.

* * *

Police cars in front of the building.

Actually more like police trucks.

Thinking that something could have happened to her made his heart skip a beat and he was surprised. Her attempts to make him jealous didn't stir anything in him, and now he didn't even know if she had just been held up by something around here.

A policeofficer trying to make him drive away made a sad face when he told him that he was here for a reason and his employee didn't show up at work today.

Now he was walking besides this man, trying to make sense of this whole scenery, trying to make sense of what he was told.

All he could see right now was a body in a black bodybag being wheeled out there.

"Is she… did anything happen…", he asked, being somewhat angry at his disability to form whole sentences right now.

"We found two female bodies. What does your employee look like?"

"She's small… skinny… brunette… green eyes…"

He had known this other woman from yesterday was causing trouble. He had seen it the moment Cameron spoke to her and just as always he couldn't have cared less.

"I'm sorry… You don't have to do this… we can contact her family…"

House interrupted the cop.

"I want to", he said, walking around him to see the entrance door he once – okay, twice – had knocked on to get her back shredded to pieces. It was pushed out of the way, two men wheeling out another body, small enough to be hers.

His voice caught before he was able to make a sound.

Zipping open the bodybag the cop looked at him questioningly.

He stared at the face, absolutely unknown to him.

"That's not her", he finally managed to get out, looking around.

"Where's the other one?"

"That one doesn't match your description… but maybe you can answer some of our questions…"

* * *

Chase was in the conference room when he entered his office.

He stopped at the door to his balcony, watching the landscape (or better, the parking lot) out there not really seeing anything.

He jerked when his australian duckling opened the door to his office, sticking his head in.

"I'm going to look at the home of the girl now. You found Cameron? What took you so long?"

House just watched the blonde haired man for a while. He was the youngest of his ducklings. And the one who stayed with him the longest.

You just had to look at him to know he had fallen for a woman he didn't know anything about.

"She's not coming in today", he told him, seeing Chase shrug his shoulders before turning around to go off on his mission.

* * *

They noticed that something was wrong. Foreman and Chase had been around him long enough to know when something was wrong.

So he hid in clinic, where Cuddy found him, harping at him because he hadn't called social service.

Right now he didn't care that the girl might have been abused. He noticed the extra concealer under the dean's eyes but didn't say a word.

His mind was in the destroyed apartment of his female duckling who seemed to have disappeared from the surface of earth.

Who the hell wanted to hurt sweet Allison Cameron?

Why the hell was she living alone in a three story apartment house?

Why the hell did a guy walking his dog have to notice a broken window and call the police instead of neighbours hearing gunfire in the middle of the night?

Why were there five dead people in her apartment, with automatic weapons?

"House!"

Her voice made him look up.

"You are going back to your office, you are picking up your phone, calling social services and you are reporting suspected abuse, do you understand?!"

He nodded silently, limping away with his head somewhere else, having already forgotten what his boss had said to him.

Where the hell could she be?


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: So I closed my eyes and jumped…**

"If it was in the food there would be an epidemic. We have one kid!" Chase stated, getting more and more confused with the strange behaviour his boss showed today. He hadn't said one inappropriate thing about the girl starting puberty at 6. He kept looking at the empty chair, imaging Cameron telling them it could be environmental, offering to waste her time with searching the house of the family again while they were hunting for a tumor.

"Do an MRI… if it's not in her brain it is in her reproductive tract. Someone look at the home again."

His male ducklings had just taken off when Cuddy once more came by to annoy him.

"Why didn't you tell me that Dr. Cameron is missing? That she is part of a…"

"I'm not a cop, thank god. It's their job to find her… at least she wasn't amongst the five dead in there. I'd hate to hire a new immunologist."

When he looked at her face he knew he had revealed too much.

"How do you know…?"

"The bobbsy-twins were worried because she didn't show up at work, so they called me and I made a detour… kind of limped into the middle of everything."

"House… I'm sorry…"

He shook his head.

"I just wonder what she got herself into…"

* * *

The girl had gone in VTAC.

Her brother was grabbing a nurse's ass.

House was going home.

At least he thought so, but nevertheless had to blink twice when he stopped his car in front of the apartment building his female duckling lived in. The light was on in one of the rooms, making him wonder if the police still wasn't done with the job to bag and tag.

Or maybe…

Getting out of the car he was wise enough to take a peek through the window before actually marching in there. Still could have been some other whacko, looking for her, or bagging and tagging.

What he saw made him sigh with relief.

She had her back to him, but that ass definitely was Cameron's.

The question was why she was packing.

* * *

"I can't believe I'm doing this. Why couldn't you and John just disappear?" Cameron grumped at Jane who was sitting next to her bed – the remainders of her bed, not that she was sad about the loss – and leaned her head against the wall.

"I already said I was sorry. Who else could I…"

"You could have gone to Father. Make a deal to protect you and him."

Jane snorted.

"Yeah, because it is that easy. Father wanted to see me dead! Mother wanted John dead. Back then they seemed to agree pretty much."

Throwing the stuff she was packing onto her shred bed Cameron turned to her ex-boss.

"It is that easy! But that would have included bargaining and compromises instead of doing the hero thing like last time. You are destroying my life here, Jane!"

The other woman scoffed.

"What life? You are living alone. You are living in fear. Nothing has changed, Jade!" she spat, her eyes drifting to the opening door when Cameron finally let her temper take over.

"Everything has chaged! I am not a goddamn professional killer anymore!"

"Yeah, but immunologist is pretty damn close", a deep voice said behind her, making her spin around.

"House!"

He leaned on his cane, looking at both women who seemed to be surprised by his appearance.

"What the hell is going on here?"

* * *

Jane had the decency to leave them alone, mumbling something about securing the area while Cameron stared at her feet, not looking at her boss.

House still was leaning on his cane, looking at her.

"So… Jade, huh?"

Her green eyes focused on him when he said that, a determined expression on her face.

"What are you doing here, House?"

To her surprise he averted his eyes.

"I came by this morning and had look at corpses to tell the police they were not you! What do you think I am doing here!" he then exclaimed, facing her again.

"Who is she?" he then wanted to know, getting another defiant look which made him angry.

"Answer me!"

Her expression didn't change.

"Do you really think you can frighten me?"

"Works pretty well in the hospital, so… yeah."

She just rolled her eyes.

"You are the tiniest problem I've ever had, House."

Yeah sure… so grabbing Chase really was just because she needed relief. Relief from the tension he built in her.

"You've never had me, so you can't know", was his smug answer, his face getting stern after some moments.

"Are you in trouble?"

Trouble?

Didn't even start to describe what she was in.

"You should leave. I don't know how long…"

She never finished that sentence, because Jane was opening the door to the bedroom.

"I'm sorry to interrupt but we're getting company…"

* * *

Okay.

So maybe a woman with a gun was sexy.

Cameron with a gun was something you didn't dare to think of. She was the sweet, itsy bitsy immunologist who pitied everything and everyone.

Cameron actually taking one of these weapons, shoving the clip in with a movement that was a tattletale of years of experience was frightening.

Cameron with the gun hurrying him to a wall while peeking outside for the dumb, the bad and the ugly on the other hand…

"Have I thanked you yet that you dug me out, Jane?"

"Not in the last five minutes, Jade. When we've survived I'll make it up to you."

"When we've survived I am going to kill you. And now help me get him out of here…"

"He is inside the room and doesn't like to be talked about in third person, thank you", House said while being lead to the kitchen.

The two women ignored him.

"How far?"

"They haven't activated the second sensor yet… we'll make it to the car."

"Remind me to hide bigger guns in my next apartment. There's nothing better than an AK-47 when Mother tries to get you", Cameron grumped, getting a weird look from House, before she slipped out the backdoor to secure the surroundings.

Leaning in to Jane he whispered "She serious?"

"Don't know. On missions she preferred the sniper riffle… she likes a secure distance shot now and then."

Yeah, that he knew.

He just never would have thought of it literally.

* * *

They made it to his car without any incident, and he was still buffled enough by his female duckling's behaviour that he handed her the keys wordlessly and got in on the passenger seat while the other woman took the backseat, glancing behind them nervously.

Cameron soon was driving them through the town, her eyes always glancing into the mirrors to spot anyone who was possibly following them. After half an hour even House had lost track where in Princeton they actually were, but for once decided to keep his mouth shut, his eyes never leaving the gun on her lap.

When they had to stop at a red light Jane sighed.

"What are we going to do now?"

At that Cameron clenched her jaw, but didn't answer before the light turned green and she continued driving.

"You make a deal with Father."

"On which basis? It's not like I have a hostage this time."

Cameron growled at that.

"You didn't even have a hostage the last time. You just had a husband who wanted to kill you."

"Because they made him believe he was my mark over all these years!", Jane exclaimed, slamming her hand onto the back of the driver's seat.

"I know the story, I was there, thank you."

"Were you also there when they blew up our house? Did you push the button?" Jane snapped, making Cameron turn around in her seat.

"How dare you…!"

The other woman narrowed her eyes on the immunologist.

"You are going to help me, Jade. You owe me!"

At that Cameron stepped on the brakes, stopping the car at a bus station before she turned around again, sounding dangerously calm when she spoke.

"Get out of the car."

Jane just stared at the younger woman who didn't back away this time.

"Do you think they will stop at me and John? We have to stop this now!"

"We? As far as I know Jade is dead. Got killed when John and Jane Smith decided to face both agencies", Cameron answered, her eyes never leaving the other woman.

"And what will father say if someone points out that around the same time a doctor called Allison Cameron appeared?"

"He will check it and come to the conclusion that Allison Cameron went to the same medical schools like Jade, but had better marks, and now is working at the Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, whereas Jade was burried and will be forgotten."

Jane stared at the other woman.

"You had everything planned."

"I was hanging on a fricking steel rope over the roofs of Manhattan when your husband decided to storm into our headquarters! Of course I planned to get out of there. I have already lost my husband to them, I am not losing my life, for that I had to fight too much!" the immunologist exclaimed with her boss narrowing his eyes on her while Jane got angry.

"I taught you everything you know!"

"You taught me that you could think your husband just married you because you were a spy from another agency. You taught me how to kill people, and I let you even though I am a doctor and swore to protect and save people! You taught me that I'm better off with the life I have now, even though it is not perfect."

Jane just stared at her, throwing a brief sideglance towards House who was looking unbelievingly at his employee.

"Don't come running when they come for you!" Jane growled before getting out of the car, disappearing into a dark street, leaving them alone.

House opened his mouth to say something, but then realized that he didn't know what to say.

Cameron steared his car back on the street, her eyes never leaving the car in front of them.

"I'll take you home."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Nothing to lose?**

They hadn's spoken until she stopped the car in front of his appartment.

Instead of getting out he continued watching her.

"And what happens now?" he wanted to know, her gaze never leaving the street outside.

"I'll disappear. Can I borrow your car?" was her answer.

She didn't look surprised when he said "No", but turned to watch him when he grabbed her wrist before she could get out of the car.

"You can come inside and tell me what the hell is going on here."

She knew it was too dangerous, that she was risking also his life when she did what he wanted.

One gaze at him told her that he knew that, too, even though he still had not really a clue what was going on.

What his blue eyes didn't tell her was that he just didn't want her to disappear.

So he denied her the use of his car.

"House…"

"Don't even start. I want to know why I had to open a bodybag to tell heavy police force that my fellow, itsy bitsy care till your eyes pop out Cameron wasn't inside. Why I found you with Bonnie who seems to be missing Clyde. Why the hell do you know how to use a gun?"

She just rolled her eyes.

"'s not that hard, you just pull the trigger…"

"Cameron!"

Then he realized that this might not even be her real name. That the miracle Cameron was bigger than he had thought.

He hated miracles.

He always wanted to know what was going on.

"Or should I call you Jade?"

The woman behind the stearing wheel sighed.

"They might come any minute… I should…"

"I'll tell them I only hired you 'cause I bed you since you were in high school, I don't care! I want to know what's going on!"

There, he had said it.

Her green eyes focused on him.

"Why?"

Why all of a sudden this interest in her? She could have raped Chase in front of his eyes, on his desk and he couldn't have cared less, maybe even would have commented on their technique – scratch that, he surely would have commented on that – and still, it wasn't really interest in her, but interest in the show.

"I already told you why", was his answer.

"You haven't been interested in me for two and a half years, I don't see a reason for that to change", she told him more calmly than she actually felt before opening the door and starting to get out of the car.

"Do I have to repeat the part about the heavy police force and how I was afraid to find your corpse in one of those bags?" House repeated more silently than he actually wanted and thought she hadn't heard it. Part of him hoped he hadn't

She had, because she stopped getting out of the car and turned to watch him how he absently looked out the front window. Slowly turning his head towards her his tired, blue eyes won her over within a second and somehow she was glad House wasn't working for one of them – she'd never have a chance against him.

"Since high school, huh?" she asked, making one of those sexy half-grins appear on his face.


	6. Chapter 6

_Do you know this? You definitely should be doing something - but rather do something else? This comes out when I'm doing something else..._

_Enjoy!_

_Eve_

_

* * *

_

**Chapter 6: Cameron**

She had been to his home. More than once, trying to talk sense into him, bandaging him, telling him goodbye… well, not exactly in this order, she just wondered why all the time something big happened she somehow ended up in his house. And if it was only to find out he didn't have cancer.

Still, this time her whole body screamed at her to leave before she even had entered his condo, but House just shoved her in before him, and like always when he touched her or seemed so near she could feel the warmth radiating from him her brain just switched off for that one second he needed to catch her off guard.

"Don't even think about running", he growled and somehow it made sense to stay suddenly. Maybe not for Cameron, definitely not for Jade, but Allison wanted to stay.

"What would you do, if I did?" she asked nevertheless, shrugging out of her jacket, only to display scratches and some more or less bloody wounds on her bare arms that made House narrow his eyes on her.

"That hurt?" he asked back, not answering, not even considering her question. She got in with him, now she wouldn't run, of that he was sure.

The young woman in front of him just shrugged, before walking past him, sitting down on his couch.

"And now?"

Opening his mouth to say something House realized that this evening definitely wasn't his most eloquent one because once again he didn't know what to say. So he watched her folding her hands on her lap, eyes scanning the interior of his home as if she'd never been here before. Deciding that she would stay put there he disappeared into his kitchen, and had her frown at him when he reappeared with a bottle of Scotch in his left hand and his first aid kit squeezed under his left arm.

"I took care about the wounds yesterday", she said as he sat down next to her, putting the bottle onto the coffee-table.

"That I can see. This one needs some stitching", House replied pointing at a rather deep scratch and her eyes followed his.

"Must have hit me when they shred the door", was all she said before removing the cap of the bottle and taking a big gulp.

"Cameron…" he started, but was cut off.

"Just… just take care of the arm, please…"

So he did that, carefully watching her out of the corner of his eyes, her gaze distantly directed into nowhere, still feeling the alcohol burning down her throat.

Who would have thought that her boss once would have to treat a bullett wound on his lobby art duckling?

That she'd rather be exactly that instead of who she was right now?

"Will you tell me what's that all about?" a soft voice asked and she turned her head, making him realize what gave her the name in her other life.

Jade eyes sadly looked at him.

"House…" she started, but he interupted her.

"You don't have to… but… how… how does such a sensitive, caring woman like you end up with people like them?" he asked, his blue eyes once more capturing her mind, taking her to a world where she asked herself if you could mix their eyecolors, would their kids have turquoise eyes?

"I killed a man", she said, making his eyebrows rise high.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Jade**

"You killed a man", House repeated.

"Yes."

By now he was frowning at her.

"This is not turning into some Nikita story, is it? 'Cause I've seen that film."

At that Cameron rolled her eyes.

"I've never been on drugs, I didn't kill a cop… and I never hid a gun in a bathtub."

Both of them smiled briefly before turning sincere again.

"You killed a man", House said again, not actually believing it.

Cameron was facing his wall again as if the pictures there were the most interesting thing she had ever seen.

"I killed my husband."

There it was again, his lack of speech. Once again he simply didn't know what to say.

And he didn't actually realize that his mouth stood open for a while.

"When we married… we were so young, and… when they told us that they couldn't help him, that his tumor most probably would kill him…", her voice faded as she seemingly was caught in her memories.

"From this time on it got worse every day… he was in pain, he had mood swings, he was yelling at me because of nothing, accusing me I didn't want to help him, screaming at me to leave him alone, begging me in the other minute to stay with him…"

Her hand nervously scratched the bandage he had put over her would.

"One day I lost it, and I yelled back. That he should tell me what to do to help him and I would do it. He told me to end it."

"And you did?" House asked silently, seing her shake her head.

"No. I told him to hang on… and talked to one of his doctors. She… asked me if I wanted him to be in pain. To suffer… I wasn't a doctor by then but I knew enough…I knew it wouldn't be ending pretty… two days of screaming, accusations and begging later I asked her again what to do."

"Overdose of painkillers", he stated and got a nod.

"They said he must have swallowed everything he found, that he comitted suicide… and they were so nice to me. I didn't feel anything. When this doctor approached me again, asking me if I wanted to work for an agency that had hired her I said yes. When I finally found out what I had myself gotten into it was too late. I was a doctor, I should stitch up agents after bad missions… and then I found myself there, dead bodies all around me, the only one left of a team, giving instructions to field agents while holding down the fort… saving my own life. Suddenly I could feel again - there was this thrill of the hunt, fear, adrenalin, a purpose."

After that admission she fell silent, looking down at her hands, a tear running down her cheek.

"What made you change your mind… what made you leave them?" House asked after a while.

"Jane… and John… broke the rules. After they found out they were working for different agencies they had to kill the other. And they didn't. They did fight back. It made me think about my husband. I should have stayed at his side. Until the bitter end. And I chose the easy way. The cowards way. The way THEY wanted. I didn't want to be like this."

Another tear made it down her face and she suddenly realized a large, warm hand stroking down her back.

"You did the right thing", House said.

"I killed my husband because I was too much a coward to put up with everything…"

"He was in pain, and not getting back to normal, he didn't want to suffer anymore and you helped him. The way you chose afterwards may be strange but it's still just a way."

"I killed people, House", Cameron emphasized, but only got a shrug.

"I'm pretty sure most of them deserved it."

Blinking away another tear, and another one she finally looked at him puzzled. He never ceased to surprise her.

"And I know why you're still working for me", he continued, sitting up on his couch and pulling the wheeping woman on it into a hug.

"Still the thrill-seeker", he finished his conclusion, making her laugh through the tears that were wetting his shirt.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: See who I am…**

The embrace soon turned into more, hungry lips searching each other, greedy fingers finding their way under clothes that soon turned into unnerving obstacles. After the relocation into the bedroom they only slowly came to their senses, sweaty bodies curled into each other, his hand drawing lazy circles on her shoulder.

"I should leave…", she said, trying to get out of his embrace but his long arms stayed closed around her.

"Why?" he wanted to know, pecking her on her lips, only to let it turn into another searing kiss.

"If I'd known…it would be like this, I would have jumped you three years ago", she purred, resting her head against his shoulder, only to remind herself what she actually had wanted to say.

"House…"

"It's Greg."

"What?"

"My name is Greg", House replied.

Cameron sighed at that.

"I should leave", she repeated but didn't move this time.

"You could just stay."

"And put you in danger, too?" She tried to disentangle from his embrace, only to have him fight against it.

"No… Cameron!"

She didn't listen, dragging him up with her.

"Please… Allison…"

His soft voice made her stop.

"Why? Why now?" she asked, her voice almost breaking as his arms once again went around her.

"Because I almost lost you" House answered, and she really wanted to stay. Still…

"It's too dangerous, House…"

"I told you, it's Greg", was his answer, taking her head into his large hands, one of his thumbs carressing away another tear making its way down her cheek.

"Greg…" a shiver ran down her spine when she said his first name. All the times she had envisioned how it would be to have sex with him he had been House.

"Stay", he whispered, his lips finding hers again.

"Don't leave me."

She forgot to nod as her arms went around him.

* * *

Blinking against the sunlight falling into his bedroom he only slowly came to his senses, for some seconds asking himself if what had happened the day before had been a dream or reality.

The bitemark on his shoulder made him pretty sure it was the latter, though, his hand reaching out for the other warm body in his bed only to find wrinkled sheets. Cold sheets.

His mind booting within seconds, a single gaze around his bedroom confirmed his fears.

Her clothes were gone.

And so was she.

Fisting his hands into the sheets the sound told him there was something else he was wrinkling by now, and he produced a piece of paper, immediately recognizing her neat handwriting.

_Dear Greg._

He growled. Sure. Now he was Dear Greg. After she left him. He briefly thought about just throwing her letter away, to never think about her again.

But…

He just couldn't. So he continued reading.

_Dear Greg._

_I was looking at you when I wrote these lines and all I wanted to do was climb back into your bed, into your arms, and forget about the world out there._

_Unfortunately, this is not how it works in the business I chose to work before I met you. They will still be there, no matter how much any of us denies it. And I can't risk putting you in danger, no matter how hard it is for me to leave you._

_Please, don't look for me._

_Love,_

_Allison._

His hand fisted again, pressing the paper in his hand into a ball. Angrily he cast it towads the wall, growling at himself.

"Great", he muttered, letting his head fall back onto the pillow.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Don't miss you at all**

When he reached the hospital that day, the paperball was still lying on the floor of his bedroom, looking like it had been forgotten there.

_Please don't look for me…_

Oh, she could be sure he wouldn't look for her. What he would do was trying to forget about her. He just would forget about her and his life would be just like it had been before.

Rolling his eyes he grabbed at the handle of the entrance door to the hospital.

"Whom are you trying to kid here?" he asked himself silently, pushing the door open.

_Please don't look for me…_

He wouldn't even know where to start looking for her, and cursed himself for even thinking about it, when the clicking of high heels approached him from an unguarded side, Cuddy invading his personal space before he even had stepped fully through the door.

"What have you done to Cameron?" she asked, not even thinking about wishing him a good morning. Which was maybe not so bad – since it definitely was no good morning.

"What I have done to…?" he started, but was cut off with a wave of her hand.

"She came in this morning, to quit. Telling me she had a new job offer and that you were okay with her leaving as soon as possible!" she exclaimed, her eyes narrowing at his thoughful expression.

"House! Don't you have anything to say about that? What the hell did you do this time to push her away? You do know she is one of the best…"

"She was here this morning?" he interrupted her, getting another confused look.

"Yes. She…"

"How did she look?" he asked, not caring about the next round af narrowed eyes he got from his boss.

"Close to tears… House…"

_All I wanted to do was climb back into your bed…_

"She got a better offer", he answered calmly.

_Into your arms…_

"Who am I to keep her from fulfilling her dreams?" he said with a hint of his normal sarcasm, turning away from the dean of medicine, who by now was staring cluelessly at his back.

"House!"

_And forget about the world out there…_

"It's the best for all of us", he muttered over his shoulder, heading for the elevator, to let the closing doors shut everybody else out. Only then he realized he had been holding his breath. It was the best for her to be safe…

_Unfortunately, this is not how it works._

His cane crashed against the steelwall of the elevator. It never worked this way. At least not for him. Not when he finally was ready to admit that there was more…

_And I can't risk putting you in danger._

Sure he understood that. That didn't mean he had to like it. That she was in danger and on her own…

_No matter how hard it is for me to leave you._

"Then why do you leave me?" he whispered into the silence of the empty elevator, rolling his eyes about himself to be so sentimental. When the doors of the elevator opened again he stepped out like nothing had happened, and started interrogating his ducklings about their patient of the week.

_Please don't look for me…_

What he would do was trying to forget about her. He just would forget about her and his life would be just like it had been before. Because otherwise not knowing what happened to her might drive him crazy.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Better off in here…

"But she's real, right?"

House was startled out of his thoughts, only slowly coming back from his mind to where he was currently. Folding his hands under his head he focused on the white ceiling above him, blinking into the darkness surrounding his bed.

So that was where he had ended up finally.

Sharing this cell (because he never would call this room a room, actually) with a real psycho.

Though he had to admit that the guy was the funny kind of crazy instead of the makes-you-want-to-hide-under-your-bed kind of it. Alvie was sitting on his bed like a five year old, legs crossed, jumping up and down a bit while House was telling him the story how he had ended up in the psych ward.

"She is, isn't she?"

House sighed. His cell-mate really could be annoying.

"Yah… she was real. Though is wish sometimes she wasn't…"

"And because of her you ended up here? What a bitch!" Alvie spat, sympathizing with House.

The younger man nearly jumped out of his bed when House shot up from his.

"SHE IS… not the reason", he said, keeping his voice low after the first two words.

"I was popping pills until I started halluzinating… and actually I think I'm better off in here. Who knows what would happen to me outside… I mean, craving Cuddy really makes me belong in here. Out there… jeez, some evil mind would make me move in with Wilson, who'd hook up with one of his ex-wifes and throws me out after he's done with me, Chase might kill some tyrant from god knows where, somehow my department runs out of interesting cases for a very long time, so that evil mind locks me into a room with a dying man to have boring, but deep conversations, and in the end of it all, Cuddy dumps her boyfriend to declare her undying love to me!" he ranted, falling back into his pillow again.

Alvie sighed and also leaned back on his bed.

"That doesn't sound good."

"Nope. Not at all."

It was silent for a while, then his cell-mate spoke up again.

"What would have happened if Cameron had not worked for the CIA."

"I never said she was working for them… I guess from what she told me it was more a private kind of…" searching for a fitting word House only could come up with "CIA…"

"But would you still have ended up here if all that not would have happened…?" Alvie insisted, making House think about the possibility that the guy in the bed next to him was not as crazy as he wanted everyone to believe.

"Hmmm… I guess she would have taken back Chase after she dumped him, quit because I fired him, I still would have had to hire new underlings, take back Foreman, started popping more and more pills, would halluzinate craving Cuddles, and maybe Cam and Chase were married by now… yap, I definitely would have ended up here, hadn't she worked for them", he then concluded.

Alvie just made "hmm", looking at the ceiling for a while, making House believe finally he'd fallen asleep.

"Do you think things would have changed if she'd stayed instead of leaving you?" the man in the other bed silently asked into the darkness.

Alvie listend for quite a while, but didn't get an answer, finally thinking that House was sleeping. Fisting his pillow into a more comfortable lump of feathers he decided to bug the other man about it again tomorrow.

House was staring at the ceiling silently, ignoring the light in the hallway being switched on, shining through the small window in the door.

The paranoid guy two doors down the hallway had escaped from his cell, yelling that they were there to get him.

He didn't know how right he was – except for him not being the designated target…


End file.
